spacetoday.net: Russian ISS repairs cause NASA concern

Posted: Sat, Jun 6, 2026, 12:21 PM ET (1621 GMT)
ISS during STS-135 mission (NASA)

NASA instructed astronauts on the International Space Station to shelter in a Dragon spacecraft Friday while Russian cosmonauts attempted to repair an air leak. NASA instructed the four Crew-12 astronauts, along with astronaut Chris Williams, who flew to the station on a Soyuz, to stay in the Dragon spacecraft docked there as two Russian cosmonauts attempted to repair air leaks in a portion of the Zvezda module. Those air leaks have been a persistent issue and had recently increased in magnitude. NASA was reportedly concerned that the methods the cosmonauts planned to use to fix the air leak could create bigger problems. The astronauts spent less than two hours in Dragon after the cosmonauts elected to just collect and evaluate data about the air leak.